On September 10/11 (Dates vary on website) the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism published an extensively researched article titled, Anatomy of An Adoption Crisis at ForeignPolicy.com. {ed note: it appears the article has been pushed back to the 12th.)
{Text of article not online at this time. Pull-quotes will be added in an update.}
Through the use of FOIA requests, the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism was able to obtain access to a number of documents that have previously not been available to the public. The information gleaned from these documents is available at their website, including direct quotes and a list of the specific provinces implicated in the U.S. investigations.
4 Responses
Thanks for the info. All I can say is it would have been nice if some of this information (whatever was known as fact at the time) was made public when it was happening. We started the adoption process back in 2007. We lost so much money trying to adopt from Vietnam. I searched the internet for any info on Vietnam adoption and NOTHING out there suggested irregularities, baby trafficking etc. It would have been nice if any of the authorities put the info out there. What they did instead was smile as they took our money. Arhhh.
With respect Stephanie, I know for a fact there WAS stuff on the internet that suggested irregularties, because I wrote it, on my blog, multiple times. This is just one of the posts I wrote back in September 2006 warning about these very types of things:
http://mrsbroccoliguy.wordpress.com/2006/09/27/soapbox-part-deux/
And I know others on the VN-adopt yahoo lists were trying to warn PAPs too. The unfortunate thing is that the US gov’t hands were tied because they can not publicly blow the whistle on agencies or voice concerns about in-country activity without significant documented proof – which came later. I’m under the impression that sometime around early-mid 2007 (? my memory is foggy on that specific time frame) there was a change in the way things were viewed/handled by the embassy … but maybe it was just that enough evidence had started to accumulate by then? I plan to read through all the documentation that EJ Graff aquired to learn more about that.
Thanks for the info. All I can say is it would have been nice if some of this information (whatever was known as fact at the time) was made public when it was happening. We started the adoption process back in 2007. We lost so much money trying to adopt from Vietnam. I searched the internet for any info on Vietnam adoption and NOTHING out there suggested irregularities, baby trafficking etc. It would have been nice if any of the authorities warned PAP’s. What they did instead was smile as they took our money. Arhhh.
Stephanie I presume you are in the US. I am in Ireland. My husband and I and a number of other families did try to warn PAPs. But instead of listening to us we were branded as troublemakers, anti adoption (we have two adopted children from Vietnam) so the last accusation is a no brainer. The simple truth is the signs were there, huge numbers of abandoned babies from 2006,why? Donations on top of Humanitarian Aid why? No idea where the Humanitarian Aid was going why? At least in the US the authorities did issue warnings to PAPs. Here it was business as usual. The Minister for children Barry Andrews who took over a couple of years ago inherited a powderkeg. Despite a very deliberate asault from PAPs who still believed everything was above board he did not renew the treaty. He was right. As you can see from the article and from the documents those parents who tried to inform others and were blocked by the relevant authorities ( excluding the Minister) were right. Our legacy, a huge number of very worried parents wondering how do they check their childs story? What do they tell their children in the future? and who will help them?